silentchild

I've rang both her vets and am going to fast her for 24 hours before starting on the chicken and rice. Will also be holding off on her meds until she starts to recover, bit worried that she will go downhill without the painkillers to sustain her tho. Vet says to put her back on the meloxicam if she doesn't vomit again tonight so that her time off painkillers is minimal... Herbs will be put back gently after 2-3 days. I'm worried it might be something blocking the gut but I guess wait and see. She is still cheerful and bright otherwise.

Oh I am so sorry to hear, poor Bison, wishing you all the best. RIP Bison, he was very lucky to have an owner like you, run free. All my thoughts are with you at this moment, DR.

Quick update : Emma has suddenly developed diarrhea overnight out of the blue. I'm not sure what the cause is. She had roo meat for the first time this week so maybe it's that? But she's been having it since Monday and only just got the runs yesterday. Or maybe some of the meat was a bit off? I don't know. She had the squints before bed last night and woke me at 5am this morning desperate to go again, been fairly unsettled and drinking lots of water. I felt quite uncomfortable leaving her to go to work this morning but I am watching her through my webcam from my office. Will probably leave work at midday today to stay home with her. Anyway, will be putting her on chicken and rice tonight to settle her stomach, if it's still bad tomorrow I'm ringing the vets. Not sure if I should keep the meds going while she has the runs. Can't possibly be the medication causing it, she's been on it for months now and never a problem? Poor girl. ETA : Good lord I come home and I find she has thrown up all last night's dinner & this morning's breakfast all over her bed, it is the most foulest thing I have ever smelt in the world........ that's the end of that bed. Poor girl, I hope she feels better getting all that out of her system, straight on to chicken and rice for you tonight! I hope she gets better by tomorrow. How long does it normally take for a dog to get over the runs?

For me it was the Rottie... I had to learn the art of sleeping in awkward positions. Then we added the cat so it was 2 humans, 1 Rottie and 1 cat, more often than not I'd find myself halfway off the bed with a cat in my hair. Now it's just the cat, the Rottie has shifted to her own bed, but even with just one small cat I find my legs hanging halfway off the bed.....

My girl does it when being petted. She enjoys it so much and I just thought she did it cause she was enjoying the pats and is happy, she leans so much that her front leg gets raised and if I move away she'd probably fall over!

Thanks guys, I guess I just get a little bit worried that she will be too bored without much walks and worry about how that will affect her quality of life. You are right of course MrR&NR, as long as she seems happy & content I should stop worrying so much... Hoping to take her on a short walk sometime this week, preferably when it's super quiet like really late at night so there's not much that could excite her and possibly put strain on the leg... Thanks for the kind words to a paranoid worrywart like me. :) ETA : Grumpette, the photos were on the phone memory which got completely wiped as soon as I plugged it into iTunes (I have an iPhone). Don't know if it's possible to recover anything!

Oops, so sorry for the lack of updates! Thank you all for thinking of Emma and checking in on her. :) The truth is, there hasn't been much to update about! Emma is still cruising along very nicely, bless her soul and thank the angels. My mountain of Tramadol pills are just sitting in the medicine cabinet going to waste.... This will be the last month she has to live according to the vets, so let's see if she does deteriorate or if she defies all odds and keeps chugging along, my little trooper. She has been doing so well lately. Maybe it is all the herbs/medication, maybe it is the good diet, who knows. Sometimes I wonder if keeping her alive is cruel, as she can no longer go for long walks or jump around in rough play which she loves. All she does really is sleep (her favourite pastime), potter around the backyard munching on grass, and being spoilt, cuddled and smooched on every other second. I try to keep her entertained with at least some form of training every day for mental stimulation, teaching her new tricks, polishing up on her nose balancing, etc. She always enjoys these daily sessions. She doesn't go stir-crazy and I don't think she really cares about not going on walks, but I often stare at her and wonder if she is miserable. Especially as we stop her everytime she tries to do crazy zoomies. She looks at me like "Why am I not allowed to run anymore??? :( " I wonder if I am keeping her like those terrible pet owners who have dogs but never take them out of the house for walks or fun times. The cat has been an absolute blessing however, keeping Emma company on days when we go to work, they start and end each day with games such as Pounce On The Rottie Tail, Hide N Seek, Tap Your Nose, Sniff My Butt, Ninja Rolls, Protect The Crate, Jump On The Humans At 3am and much more. I believe Emma would be terribly bored and miserable without the cat to play with, what a blessing she is, I don't think I'd be comfortable keeping her alive without her playmate to keep her entertained. Anyway, her spoiling continues and the other night it was really warm so we got her very first Maccas soft serve cone. Don't shoot me, it's probably bad for the cancer but she LOVED it so much!!! ERHMAHHGEERRDD!!! And here are some recent pics of Emma with her best friend. :D I'm thinking of taking a daily photo type thing of Emma Balancing Something On Her Nose while I still have the chance, so after she is long gone I will have a nice compendium of photos of her with her signature trick to remember her by... slightly peeved at the moment cause my phone just died and I lost ALL of my photos of her, I had so many precious photos of her stored in it, so upsetting... Anyway, Emma thanks you all again for reading her update, fingers crossed she will keep staying healthy and happy and strong and defy what all the vets said and be able to stay with us for a long time. :) ETA : OMG sorry for the huge photos!!! I tried to resize but it didn't work?

Unfortunately a lot of average people seem to think "Why BUY a brand new dog when you can get one from rescue?! The shelters are overflowing why do you contribute to the number of dogs in the world!?!?" etc etc etc. Pretty much saying anyone who buys a dog whether it be from a pet shop or from a breeder is evil and deserved to be shamed because they didn't adopt one already in need. I've heard it so many times. Stupid argument, but there are stupid people unfortunately.

Whoa, reading some of the comments on the Insight SBS facebook page makes me despair for humanity. There's also a lot of extremists saying registered ethical breeders are no better, since with every purebred pup being produced, another one dies in the pounds, I'm so sick of this stupid argument, seems like since this episode airs a lot of people feel it should be get your dog from a rescue or Nothing At All, I think purebreed breeders have a lot of work to do in enlightening the public on why we breed and the benefits of purebred dogs, and stats on how many dogs from ethical breeders end up in pounds etc. I wish there would have been more focus on differentiating between ethical breeders and backyard breeders on the show, a lot of pound dogs tend to be Oops litters from BYBs or have problems that resulted from "breeders" not doing the appropriate health testing, etc. Sigh.

UGH at this horrid commercial "doodle" breeder, what in the world!!

Oh, wish I were there on the Saturday instead of Sunday, always loved the breed and would've loved to meet some WSS in the flesh. Anyhow all the best with the stall, it is such great exposure to the public. :)

Thanks all, probably time for an update but there really isn't much to update (thank god for that!). Emma is still cruising along very nicely, happy and full of life, yesterday nearly pulled me off my feet trying to say Hi to the neighbour's dog through the fence. I am glad that she is still with me and as pain-free as she can be, obviously not 100% pain free as she still limps around a little, but not in enough pain to really hinder her or stop her from being the crazy exuberant girl she is. Still no need for Tramadol yet, touch wood and thank the lucky stars, somewhere there must be an angel looking over her! :) She's developed a fair bit of muscle I think, she looks great and is in really nice condition. I've been cutting down her food intake so she doesn't get too porky but she looks really excellent at the moment, save for the cancerous shoulder that is just sunken in. The lump is still the same size too, I am so so grateful for that. Just need to slim that waist down a little.... I can't be too comfortable yet, it has only been about 2 months since her diagnosis and since the prognosis was 3 months left to live, anything could still happen at anytime.. I can only hope that angel keeps watching over her!

I am a recent raw convert. I read and researched a lot about it but still probably haven't got it down pat! It really is up to what works for your dog - what works for one may not work for the other. I'm lucky what I feed my dog seems to be working well for her currently. You might want to also read this thread : http://www.dolforums...tural-chitchat/ Anyway the basic gist of raw we follow is quite similar to BARF. Because of my dog's condition (cancer) she has quite a few additions and variations to her raw diet as recommended by our vets, so slightly different from the norm however I won't mention any of that here - I'll just give you a basic outline of what we feed. Brekky is normally chicken frames or chicken necks or turkey necks. When I'm feeling rich she gets rabbit once in a while. Once in a while also a lamb neck but if yours is a small breed dog I wouldn't recommend one. Dinner is a mixture of beef / veal / turkey / lamb mince, or roo mince or rabbit mince if you can get your paws on some. Sometimes also some minced chicken frames . Eggs twice a week, shell and all. I cook the egg whites slightly but leave the yolks raw. Fish oil about 5 - 6 times a week, Vitamin E about 3 times a week. Yogurt about 3 times a week, just a dollop in with her brekky. Offal a small amount about twice a week. (Liver, kidney etc) She also gets heart once a week. Whole fresh sardines once a week. Also veggies blended to a pulp every day, she gets a good helping of that. I usually just buy a batch of whatever meat/bones I need on a weekend, then separate them all by day, label the bags and freeze them. I have a menu printed out and stuck on my fridge so its easy for me to follow and see what she eats by day. It's a great system for me as I work full-time, so quick and easy. :)

More education about dog ownership for people from different cultures / OS students is definitely something which I think needs to be done, and am quite passionate about it, however I have seen countless cases where no matter how much you educate someone they just won't listen and will still go out and do as they please. Sometimes it really is just the different way of thinking and culture differences. Although more effort in terms of education could certainly possibly go a long way and welfare / rescue groups should explore that avenue.

Thank you all again. :) Emma is doing well still, haven't had to give her Tramadol since, but knowing me typing it here is gonna jinx it *touch wood*. She is happy as ever and doesn't seem to be deteriorating, though miss lazy bones seems to put herself to bed a bit earlier nowadays. Have to stop by the vets to top up her medication today, am so so glad she hasn't had a bad day since. *touch wood x100000* Emma received some pressies in the mail yesterday (thank you so much!!), so of course, here is her trademark balancing trick as most of yous who go in the Rottie thread knows. :laugh: I was too soft on her, next time I'm gonna have to make her balance at least ten on her nose! I love this photo, she looks so happy like "Hurry up with the photo mum so I can eat!!!!"

I was an international student (from Malaysia) and it saddens me to say this but I have seen so many so many so many cases where international students get pets because they are sooo cute, all the time swearing left, right and center that it will be forever, they will bring it back to their home country with them, etc etc etc only later to decide otherwise and surrender the poor pet, which usually end up highly unsocialized or has a long list of behavioral problems because the student just didn't put in enough effort into the dog, instead just treating it as a cute ornament. Its sad but true, dog ownership in south east Asia just typically isnt the same as it is here (im sure there are exceptions but this is just based on my own observation/experience). These international students simply lack the education and knowledge about owning a pet as dogs are more commonly seen as guard dogs or backyard commodities back overseas. Like the OP, I've had dogs all my life, and when I came here, just like the OP, life didn't feel right without a dog. But I knew I was a student and so many unpredictable factors can change and I just knew it would be better to not get a dog during that stage in my life, even though life was incomplete without one. I held off and only committed to a dog after I had my PR, had settled down permanently in Aus, after graduating & getting a job etc. I agree with the RSPCA's decision in this case. To the OP, why don't you just wait the few years until you go back to Singapore, then adopt from a shelter there? There are thousands of needy animals in SE Asia. It would save you the cost of transport and saves the dog the stress of travel. And you'd still be saving a life. It sucks being without a dog now, but it will much fairer to both the dog and yourself.

Oh DerRottweiler I am so so sorry to read about the latest update on Bison and can relate to how you are feeling. He is so well-loved by you and I know you will do the right thing by him, and I hope the both of you enjoy whatever time you have left together, I'm sorry I don't have many words that are useful to console you as you know it is a matter so close to my heart, I just wish you all the best and strength and courage with whatever you do, all my best thoughts are heading your way.

It probably doesn't matter that much but I just figure while she's still around I want her to have the best nutrition I can give her, to give her the best chance really I guess. I'm surprised she is still in such good condition I half expected her to be gone by now so I hope it's her good diet that is helping somewhat. Oh she loves the fresh sardines and just devours them... but just not in whole fish form LOL. I don't know why, she's just being a princess and insists on them being bite size pieces. She loves the heads too, chomp chomp. Same with the offal really, once I've sliced them up she licks the bowl clean..... next I will have to get her a cravat and a monocle so she can sip tea solemnly with her dew claw extended.

Same here, Dyzney's posts always turn me into a wreck. Dyzney what are you doing to us! You are right Dyz, her bad day really did throw me, it was the worst I'd seen her she would occasionally be panting from the pain it was that bad. Can't have been panting from the heat as it's bloody freezing this winter! She hasn't been bad since though and the days since my last update has really been a blessing as she is happy and back to normal, still in some pain but nothing as severe as that. She has a bit of trouble getting up after lying down for a long time and will sometimes cry if she tries to move the wrong way, my poor baby. Mostly she just sleeps nowadays but then she has always been a lazy bum and slept a lot even when she was a young, healthy dog so I am not concerned about that. She still finds ways to give me her usual daily dosage of heart attacks so she is fine for now, LOL. It's so nice and sunny out today I may let her out into the yard to potter around and graze on the grass if she likes, though by the looks of it now she seems to much rather be sleeping LOL Thanks for the advice re sardines, Dyz and MrR&NR, I tried giving them to her seal-style like you did with NellieRose, but she just looked at me with absolute DISGUST - I should've filmed it, it was hilarious. Chucking them whole into her bowl yielded the same effect. I was this close to just stuffing them down her throat with my fist she was that obstinate hahaha. So poor me having to smush it all up and giving the kitchen an absolutely wonderful fragrance of eau de fish which is sure to delight all my visitors. She did the same with kidneys and offal, but instead of just leaving it she very kindly took to removing them from her bowl and arranging them neatly on the floorboards for me to step on. Thanks Emma! So straight into the food processor they will all have to go to be mixed in with her mince next time. Thank you so much again to all for all the kind words and support, it means more than you realize. :) Lost of wags from Emma to all of you.

Thank you everyone for the latest well wishes and for sharing all your stories, they are all useful to us and I truly truly appreciate them all. I am so sorry to hear of the terrible things you had to go through with your dogs, Katrinka and Jezzabel. It is a horrible disease, all we can do is make sure they know they are loved and to be strong enough to do right by them even though it is heartbreaking. Sorry I haven't updated in a while, have been quite worried about Emma lately and just haven't had the time. She has been rather sore and quiet the past week or so, the day before yesterday was the worst I had ever seen her - she wasn't using the leg much and mostly just stayed in bed all day - but then again it could also have been because I had given her some Tramadol that day so she might just have been stoned out of her mind LOL - but it was enough for me to be concerned and to seriously think about the option of euthanasia, I also had a long (and teary) discussion about it at the vets yesterday when I went to get more of her meds. We both decided to wait and see-- Yesterday however she was much better so I was quite heartened by that, and today she has rallied even more and is back to her crazy, bouncy self. I almost had a heart attack when she leapt out of her bed to greet me and then bounded around all over the garden and did zoomies down the hallways despite my best efforts to stop her....... so she is feeling much much better today. I hope she will be just as good tomorrow, and even better in the days to come, although deep in my heart I know that today is probably just one of her 'good days' - at the end of the day I will have to see how many good days she has compared to bad days, and if the bad days outnumber the good days I will probably have to call the shots.... so far her good days are still a majority, it is only during the last week she has been rather quiet and sore, so maybe it was also just the cold and that, I hope the bad days stay as little as possible for as long as possible. She is still on her naturopathic herbs and also Meloxicam and Tramadol for the pain - I haven't had to give her any Tramadol today so that's a good sign. A herb that I haven't been able to get my hands on is Tylophera, both the vet and I can't find it anywhere - if anybody knows where I can buy this herb please pass the information along, I will really appreciate it. I gave Emma some fresh whole sardines for the first time in her life last Thursday, she normally only gets the canned variety. She looked at this fresh fish like it was blasphemy to give to her and after a few licks, turned her nose up in disgust and absolutely REFUSED to eat it with a ten-foot pole. I had to chop it up into delectable bite size pieces and place it into her food bowl for Her Royal Highness, and then she very appreciatively and daintily ate it all. What a princess!!! For those of you who feed your dogs fresh whole sardines, do you normally clean out the guts? I just left the guts in for her and she ate it with no problem, but my human mind just finds it a little gross lol.. aren't we supposed to clean out the guts of fish? She only gets the fish once a week and on the other days she gets fish oil, do you think it's too much fish? I am so clueless hahaha. She is starting to look a little porky, I think the good food is starting to take effect haha so will have to watch her food amount now. It's very sad tho, the cancerous leg has barely any muscle on it anymore and you can just see that the shoulder is flat and sunken in - whereas her good leg looks strong and muscly and healthy. The good news is that the lump on her shoulder doesn't seem to have been growing in size - touch wood - so we must be doing something right. Thanks again to all your well wishes, I really appreciate it and I'm sure Emma would too. :)

I've tried almost all the painkillers in existence.. with Rimadyl the generic ones are definitely cheaper. My girl has never had a reaction to Rimadyl (thank god) but it is also not my drug of choice, I would always choose something else over it. In terms of similiar NSAID pain relief, I use Meloxicam as my drug of choice, it comes in liquid form and I find it tends to last a bit longer than Rimadyl. It is also slightly cheaper. Metacam is another one that I would (and have) use, although bear in mind they are all more or less similiar in terms of risks and long-term side effects - Rimadyl just has a lot more cases brought to public attention in regards to deaths and all that. With arthritis have you considered getting Carprofen(carthrophen? lol I always get them mixed up) injections? Earlier on in her years my girl was also prescribed Rimadyl daily for the rest of her life for arthritis, but I did not like that and she also had some courses of the injections before. By keeping her lean and improving her diet I was able to cut out the Rimadyl entirely and she was happy and mobile with just Joint Guard and a good quality diet with just light exercise. Tramadol is more an opiate, it has no anti-inflammatory properties that Rimadyl, Meloxicam, Previcox etc have so in the long run may not be that beneficial - its main purpose is solely for pain relief. It may make your dog a little spacey... my dog will just sort of randomly stand up and stare into space like she's been smoking some weed if she is on Tramadol LOL, if you think about the effect an opiate drug has on a human, it is sort of similiar for a dog. Tramadol is stronger, in terms of side effects it is generally safer as well.

Thanks everyone for all your words, and thank you for following her updates, Stolz, I know it must be very hard for you to have to read all this knowing that you have been through it before with your black & tan. I really appreciate your kind thoughts. :) k9Angel, she is certainly allowed to have some treats, I will PM you. :) She will definitely appreciate it very much, thank you. Edit : k9Angel, your inbox is full. Emma update: She is doing much much better, I don't know if it's the Meloxicam or the herbs or the food, but she is back to her old self. She has a very teeny tiny limp but overall she is great, active and energetic and playful. I am super careful with her though because of the risk of the bone fracturing, damn dog still makes it a point to jump around and play with the cat whilst I am losing my head terrified that she will fracture the bone, EMMA JUST SETTLE DOWN PLEASE OMG. I'm not sure if I should take her off the Meloxicam a little to see if that is what is helping, or is it the herbs, not really sure... Also having a bit of trouble getting her to take the meds without food, they smell and taste awful, such a good girl for tolerating me shoving pills down her throat every day. I try to put them in a spoon of yogurt or mince or cheese or just about anything, but she is so damn smart she just eats around it, or takes it into her mouth then sneakily hides it away behind the bowl or something when I am not looking. Cheeky girl! The lump on her shoulder seems to be staying the same size for now, hopefully it will either shrink or just not grow any bigger! All my prayers for my lovely girl. She sends lots of licks and wags to everyone who has been so kind to send good thoughts our way. :)

Thank you so much for your kind words bronsonb :) Emma Update : We took her back to the holistic vet on Friday - you can feel a lump growing on the front of her shoulder now. My poor girl. I had to give her her first Tramadol last week. She has been rather quiet the past few days, preferring to sleep most of the time and was a little sore. Today she is much much better, limping less and also much more alert and energetic. We are also starting her on a new herb blend, hopefully it will help as well, but the vets did say it will take some time to get into her system, so if she is going to improve we will see it over the next few weeks. All my fingers crossed! We figure she probably won't be able to make it to her next birthday which is in December, so to make up for it, last Saturday we celebrated her 7th year, 7th month, 7th day old birthday! We made her some delicious doggy cupcakes which she LOVED and made a huge fuss out of her. We've decided not to go down the chemo / radiation route and just focus mainly on keeping her happy and comfortable for the rest of the days. Hopefully the herbs and good food will help extend her life for a few more months extra as well, but I will be trying my best to focus on taking it one day at a time and making sure my girl knows she is loved. With chemo and radiation she would have to go under GA for every treatment which would mean she would have to go under every week - and as they say, every time you go under it is like you are visiting a small piece of death, so it's something I'd rather not put her through, even though the vets tell me she will be fine with it - I just don't want her to have to deal with the stress of that, not to mention I'd be way too worried and anxious about it every time which will also rub off on her. I hope I won't regret this decision, or that it looks like the 'easy way out', I just really want what's the best for her, my gut instinct tells me like chemo and radiation is not the way to go.... Here is a photo of her enjoying her 7th year 7th month 7th day old birthday! :)

Thanks so much everyone. :) I am very grateful to be able to share these posts about Emma, none of my friends or family in real life really understand my love for animals, they all mean well but at the end of the day "it's just a dog" so having this space to be able to talk about her with like-minded people who understand what we're going through is a real blessing. Although sometimes it gets difficult because reading what everyone says always makes me tear up (dyzney has the amazing ability to render me a bawling banshee with her posts, always) :laugh: I stopped by the vets after work today and had a long in-depth talk to one of our vets about pain relief, I've switched her over from Rimadyl to Meloxicam, with some Tramadol as back up for those extra bad days which will inevitably be on the horizon. The subject of Rimadyl still confuses me as every vet I have ever spoken to about it is always adamant that it has exactly the same side effects as metacam, previcox, carprofen, meloxicam etc and none is any worse than the other. And yet Google says otherwise, lol, but anyway what matters to me most is that Emma is comfortable and pain-free for the rest of her days. We will just be using the pain relief on days when she is particularly sore, she is still quite good now, I think the holistic medicine is helping quite a bit. I hope the day never comes when even the combination of Tramadol and Meloxicam will not alleviate her pain, although I know that will be inevitable later down the track - I can only hope that it will be much much much later down the track. I know she will tell me when she is ready to leave me, now is not the time yet, she still has her spirits about her. We still haven't made a decision yet as to which path we should go regarding treatment, she has another appointment with the holistic vet next Monday for another assessment and we will see if the medicines have helped. I know whatever decision I make I will regret, if I treat her with chemo I will regret putting her through all that, if I don't treat her I will regret not fighting harder to save her life, it is a bleak hole whichever path I go. God knows when I'll make a decision but I know it will have to be soon. I do have to commend the folks at our vet - we go to Monash Vets which has always been our usual vet - the vet who spoke to me today although he wasn't the person we normally see - was incredibly helpful and supportive, he listened carefully to all my concerns and explained everything very well. Not judgmental or critical and completely understanding - he must've stood there listening to me babble on about all the different options and medications and did not once show anything but deep concern and understanding. In fact all the vets and vet nurses that have helped deal with Emma throughout this entire thing and dealing with a very headstrong and opinionated owner like me who demands to know exactly what everything is and why :laugh: - has been nothing short of caring and supportive, from the folks at Monash to Southpaws to the holistic vet - they have all been exceptional. Emma has the uncanny ability to squirm her way into the hearts of those she meets, maybe it's her one-eyed appearance or her over-exuberant greetings, who knows but she is one very very lucky girl to have so many people care for her and want the best for her. :) Keeping her quiet to minimize the risk of the bone fracturing is my main priority right now, but I do want her to be ridiculously happy during her time left, so I may take her on some quiet walks if I can.... she would love to be outdoors sniffing absolutely everything again... we'll see. Maybe in the dead of the night when there's nobody around to stop her getting too excited and risk hurting herself. :/

I'm so sorry for your loss LucyCharzie. Your pain is one that I will inevitably have to feel and my heart breaks terribly for you right now. Big hugs to you and your lovely girl, sending all the best wishes to all of you.